A New Paradigm for the Shape and Origins of the Earliest Christology: Abstract

Part 1: Christological Origins: An Emerging Consensus

Part 1 describes and evaluates the new emerging consensus on the origins and shape of NT Christology.

Chapter 1. Christological Origins: An Introduction to the New Emerging Consensus

This chapter describes the new emerging consensus on Christological origins achieved, in particular, by the work of L. Hurtado and R. Bauckham. Between them they have shown that there was a very high Christology, going back to the earliest months or years of the new movement after Jesus death. The shape of this "high Christology" is characterised by (a) a "Christological monotheism" that includes Jesus in the divine identity through an identicaiton of him with Yhwh-Kyrios (Bauckham's emphasis) and (b) a worship of Jesus (Christ devotionemphasised by Hurtado) that treats Jesus the way Israel's God was treated in a multi-faceted pattern of corporate and personal devotion to Jesus. As regards the origins of this high Christology, there are matters on which Bauckham and Hurtado agree (such as a lack of precedent for the phenomenon in pre-Christian Judaism), with each making distinctive proposals on some points. In particular, Hurtado thinks certain powerful religious experiences explain the origins of Christ devotion.

Chapter 2. Unconvincing Objections and Fresh Support for the Emerging Consensus
Some (e.g. A. Y. Collins, J. D. G. Dunn and J. F. McGrath) have raised objections to the central claims of the emerging consensus and remain unconvinced. This chapter focuses on those aspects of the opposing arguments to which a response defending the emerging consensus can easily be made. It also introduces some new evidence, from an analysis of the numerical structure of 1 Cor 8:6, that provides further support for the claim that the earliest Palestinian Christian community believed the one God of biblical faith had now revealed himself as one God in two persons.

Chapter 3. Unanswered Questions and Unconvincing Arguments

This chapter explores some problems and questions in the emerging consensus, especially in Hurtados model, that have not so far been satisfactorily addressed. Some of these problems have been identifed by others and Hurtado has attempted to explain them. I lay out reasons for thinking that they have not yet been satisfactorily explained. I also point out additional problems and questions that have not as yet been given the attention they deserve. On the question of the shape of NT Christology there, in particular, are two problems. The emerging consensus does not give sufcient attention (1) to the distinct identies of God the Father and Jesus the Son, and (2) to the incarnational shape of the NT Christology. In regard to the second of these two points, the emerging consensus treatment of the Son of Man title in the gospels is especially problematic. On the question of the historical origins of Christological monotheism the emerging consensus has not so far satisfactorily explained: the lack of opposition to Christ devotion, the identication of Christ with Yhwh-Kyrios, and the belief that Jesus Christ was an agent in the work of creation. There are also particular problems with Hurtados recourse to powerful religious experiences to explain the origins of Christ devotion that render that part of his model implausible.

Part 2: Possible Jewish Precedents for Christological Monotheism

Part 2 considers the two most promising candidates in the pre-Christian Jewish world that would provide an historical and theological precedent for Christological devotion: the messiah and Adam.

Chapter 4. The Similitudes of Enoch (1 En. 3771) and a Jewish Divine Messiah
Chapter 4 investigates the possibility that, contrary to the claims of the emerging consensus, there are pre-Christian traditions surrounding a divine messiah that offer a precent for the inclusion of Jesus Christ in the divine identity and the worship of him as such. The chapter focuses primarily on the identity of the Son of Man-Messiah gure in the Similitudes of Enoch, which Bauckham sees as a partial exception to the rule that there was no pre-Christian worship of a messiah as one included within the divine identity. Following the recent work of leading scholars of the Enoch Seminar (led by Gabriele Boccaccini) on the Similitudes of Enoch it is argued that: (1) this is a pre-

Christian text that is illustrative of a wider interest in both the gure of Dan 7:13 and a transcendent, heavenly or divine messiah gure, (2) the Similitudes is a mainstream text that, a priori, is likely to have inuenced Jesus and his earliest followers in their understanding of Israels messiah. Given the obvious connections to the use of the Son of Man title in the gospels, it must have something to do with the origins of Christological monotheism. However, the Similitudes many as-yet-unanswered questions prevent clear conclusions about its formative contribution to Christological origins. In particular, it is not yet clear how its divine messianism squared with the shape of the bibles own understanding of the divine identity and Gods relationship to a chosen ruler (a messiah or son of man gure).

Chapter 5. The King, the Messiah and Ruler Cult

Chapter 5 explores the recent work of William Horbury, in particular his proposal that in pre-Christian Judaism there was an inclusive monotheism that had already entertained the possibility that it was appropriate to worship reigning kings (and the future coming kingthe messiah) in a manner similar to the worship of rulers in the wider Greco-Roman world (Ruler Cult). Whilst the emerging consensus has not so far engaged in detail with Horburys proposals there are texts (such as Dan 2:46 and 1 Macc 3 and 14) which give it clear textual support. On the other hand, even if accepted in all its parts, Horburys pre-Christian Jewish traditions cannot explain the precise and full shape of Christological monotheism and there are, in any case, problems with his handling of some of the data. In particular, he overplays the royal character of Jewish messianism and he misreads or ignores those texts that point to the primacy of the high priestly ruler (who is a messiah) in Second Temple period political theology. Recognising this and other blind spots in his vision of pre-Christian messianic hope points us to new ways of understanding Daniels one like a son of man and the language of glory for the ruler or messiah.

Chapter 6. A Worship of Adam in Pre-Christian Judaism?

Chapter 6 considers the possibility that Christ devotion was anticipated by a preChristian belief that Adam was worshipped by the angels (in a story best known from V.A.E. 1216). Hurtado and Bauckham have provided various arguments against this suggestion (that was rst made in 1990 by D. Steenburg). Their arguments are subjected to careful analysis and each of them is rejected. New arguments for a pre-Christian dating of the Worship of Adam story are offered and it is argued that the text relies on the Biblical notion that humanity is created to function as Gods idol (his tselemGen 1:26, 28), and that other texts suggest the Worship of Adam story was by no means a theologically aberrant Jewish story. In particular,

there are reasons to think that the story was known to and echoed by the author of Daniel in Dan 27.

Excursus: An absolute difference between Creature and creature?

This excursus discusses the vexed issue of the relationship between God and diverse mediatorial and exalted gures in Second Temple Jewish literature. Scholarship is sharply divided on the possibility that beings other than God himself can be described as divine in any way. The emerging consensus, particular R. Bauckham, deny this possibility. But many others point to substantial primary text evidence that justies the language of deication for humans and divine for other beings besides God. Bauckham has the strength of argument from theological rst principles, but others have the strength of the primary texts own language on their side. I propose a new way of construing the nature of Gods absolute difference from all other reality that helps explain the textual evidence.

Part 3: Fresh Probings in NT Christology

Chapter 7: Adam and New Testament Christology
Chapter 7 takes the ndings of chapter 6 and applies them to the study of NT texts; rst the gospels then Pauline literature and Hebrews. It is argued that in various placesin the Synoptics and in Hebrews 1:6there is likely a reference or allusion to the Jewish Worship of Adam story. The arguments of those (e.g. N. T. Wright & G. K. Beale) who think that there is an Adam Christology in Pauline texts (esp. Phil 2:6 11 and Col 1:1520) and in Hebrews 12 are surveyed and endorsed. However, the view of J. D. G. Dunn that the Adam Christology in Paul (esp. in Phil 2:611) means there Paul has no Christology of pre-existence is rejected. Central to the NTin the Synoptics and in Paulis the claim that Jesus was a Second Adam. But Jesus Adamic identity begins in pre-existence and so as a Second Adam he is temporally prior to and ontologically superior to the rst Adam. Nevertheless, there are good reasons for thinking that Jewish exalted-Adam speculation, especially the Worship of Adam story, contributed something to the birth of Christological monotheism. Certainly, the worship of Jesus partly entails the worship of him as a Second Adamas a true humansomething which the leading voices of the emerging consensus seem to deny. Though the fully divine identity that denes the shape of Christological monotheism cannot be explained simply by recourse to Jewish Adam traditions.

Chapter 8: Divine Christology in the Synoptic Gospels

The emerging consensus has concentrated its arguments for a full and early divine Christology on the evidence of Paul and other texts outside the gospels that are generally reckoned by scholars to be the earliest and most reliable witnesses to the life of the historical Jesus (the Synoptics). Chapter 8 investigates the case for the thinking that already in the Synoptics, not just in John, Jesus thinks, speaks, acts and is treated by God as one who belongs within the divine identity. The principal textual evidence for this view are stories describing Jesus exercising power and authority over the storm and the water of the Sea of Galilee, and the transguration. A lengthy discussion of the later story reveals a complex portrayal of Jesus that likely intends his multifaceted identity as one who is a pre-existent, divine being who is now revealed as Israels true eschatological high priest. The narratival Christology of those texts is consistent with the way in which a collection of Synoptic sayings (including several Son of Man sayings) have Jesus speak as one who has come from pre-existence on a God-ordained mission. The recent work of S. Gathercole on these texts is taken up, developed further (in the case of Lk 12:4953 and Matt 10:3436) and related to the conclusions of the discussion of the Similitudes of Enoch (in chapter 4). Discussion of double tradition material in Luke 10:2122 and 13:33 (= Matt 11:2527 & 23:37) nds there, and in other special material in Matthew, further evidence that the Synoptic tradition had as high, and as developed, a Christology (bar the role of Jesus in creation described in John 1:118) as any in Johns Gospel.

Chapter 9. The Gospels and the Quests Unanswered Questions

Chapter 9 reviews the ndings of the previous chapters in the light of the unanswered questions and problems posed in chapter 3. Besides the identication of oustanding questions that still need to be answered, three topics receive a fresh discussion: 1. The Gospels and Acts make the resurrection, not exaltation (as Hurtado claims was historically the case) the decisive factor in the birth of Christological monotheism. This needs explaining. 2. Despite several recent in-depth studies, the blasphemy charge against Jesus at his trial remains hard to explain. I argue that the normal view that, in one way or another, Jesus is judged to have offended Jewish notions of the relationship between God and humanity is implausible. 3. Several observations on the way in which the Son of Man title is used in the gospels are made, in preparation for the outlining of a new solution to the Son of Man problem (that is a key component of the new paradigm).

Part 4: Christological Origins: a New Paradigm

Chapter 10. Fourteen Propositions for a New Paradigm for the Origin and Shape of NT Christology
This chapter sets out, in fourteen separate propositions, a new paradigm that offers an explaination of Christological origins. It gathers up some of the ndings of the previous nine chapters and adds new propositions to create an overarching comprehensive metanarrative that explains the historical origins and shape of NT Christology. Proposition 1: Proposition 2: In the originally intended order of creation, humanity is Gods idol (tselem) and as such is divine in both being and function. Adam, being already in the image and likeness of Yahweh God, as his idol, should not have considered the offer to become a god (in his own right) something worth grasping after (Genesis 23). Proposition 3: The true image-idol of God is reconstituted in Israel, above all in the high priest (Exodus 28), who is therefore divine and received worship as such. Proposition 4: Proposition 5: The high priest is the divine image-idol in the temple-as-Eden and the temple-as-microcosm, on a cosmic stage. The high priest is an ofce not a person. (This proposition and the preceding one qualify in important ways what it means to say that the high priest is divine and that he is worshipped). Proposition 6: Proposition 7: Within the temple-as-microcosm the high priest is co-creator, in the context of a sacramental ontology. In accordance with Israels Scriptures, the priesthood had a position of primacy in Second Temple political theology and messianic hope. Proposition 8: Daniel 7:13 exemplies the dominance of priesthood and temple in Second Temple theology and the hope for a new (messianic and royal) high priest. Proposition 9: Apocalyptic literature (that nurtured messianic hope) reects the spirituality and cosmology of Temple (and Torah), of the priesthood, and of the belief that humanity is created to be Gods true image-idol. Proposition 10: All the gospels portray Jesus as self-consciously divine, as one who has come to earth from God in pre-existence.

Proposition 11: In the rst instance, the worship of the Lord Jesus Christ (Christ devotion) arises from the belief that he was Israels true eschatological high priest, the true image-idol of God. Proposition 12: Jesus' divine identity in the gospels is shocking to rst century Jews because he claims the full divine identity of the high priest even though he is of royal lineage. Proposition 13: The divine identity of Jesus is a matter of his deeds so, on analogy to the identity of the ruler in the Greco-Roman Ruler Cult, he is a person and God is now two (Christological monotheism). Proposition 14: An Historical Jesus who claimed to be the Israels One God incarnate is the necessary condition for the origin and shape of the Churchs earliest Christology.

Chapter 11. Further Explanations and Reections on the Outline of a New Paradigm
Chapter 11 closes with explanatory notes and further reections on each of the propositions that make up the new paradigm. Crispin Fletcher-Louis September 2013